Dancing Back to Crete

Sunday, October 22, 2017

As we begin dance rehearsals in Paris for ZORBA, we can’t help feeling nostalgic about our time in Crete and the first steps of hasapiko we learned there this summer, looking out over topaz waters...

Cretans have a close relationship to music and dance, and the island’s artistic traditions are among the most vibrant in all of Greece. This rich tradition can be traced back to early history and the island’s mythology. We were especially fascinated by the myth in which the Kourites, who guarded Zeus as a child, danced while banging on their shields in order to drown out the infant’s crying. Meanwhile, the hasapiko, which we’ve been working on the most, originated as a battle re-enactment with swords and is also known as The Butcher’s Dance. We’re dancing for a different reason now but know that the rhythms we’re learning hold a lot of history. And we’re getting better and better at keeping up as rehearsals move along!

We’re also conjuring up memories of the Cretan landscape as we move onstage in Paris. Crete’s sun-soaked colours, wind, waves and dramatic mountains all resonate within the music Katerina plays for us and help provide inspired dance steps. It’s interesting to note that our male stars have their work cut out for them, as the men’s dances are often more complicated than the women’s! We noticed this immediately in Crete as we observed locals dancing. The women were often much more reserved both in movement and in costume. There’s a refinement in the way they move and Elodie, for example, is doing a wonderful job of embodying this for our production of ZORBA.

Eric’s creations always have a way of transporting audiences, of evoking the ‘somewhere else’... this time, the ‘somewhere else’ starts with Cretan dance. And we’re enjoying every step of the journey! Join us by watching the video below and see our first attempts at the hasapiko while perched on a cliff during a perfect Mediterranean sunset. Last summer in Crete doesn’t seem so far away...